--a unique Fresnel lens, was first illuminated in 1907.The lens is a 2nd Order bivalve.

Hillsboro Inlet can be treacherous. That light stands out more than anything else along the coastline..This is a primary seacoast light. The purpose for this lighthouse was not for the Inlet but to fill a seacoast lighthouse gap between Juniper Inlet and Cape Florida to aid offshore navigation when passing the coast. This was one of sixteen such gaps on the Atlantic Coast identified by Capt. Frederick Mahan in conjunction with his lighthouse system improvement plan of 1891. A second such lighthouse was Sea Girt between Barnegat and Navesink.

The statements from the two fisherman in the article are about locating the inlet on the coastline when returning from fishing miles offshore at night and not about navigating the narrow approach to the inlet.

The inshore approach to the inlet is hazardous. For this reason it is well marked with buoys and day markers. The offshore approach to the inlet is identified by a Mo(A) lighted buoy. Proceeding inshore are two buoys, a red lighted buoy and a green lighted buoy on either side and followed by a second green lighted buoy. On the coral reefs on the the port side is a green unlighted day marker followed by a second green unlighted day marker.

South of Hillsboro is Port Everglades with a narrow hazardous entrance. This is a major port for large container ships, oil tankers and cruise ships but it does not have a lighthouse.

No, not nowadays, when it was built. It had a purpose then and you know what it is. To fill a stretch of dark coast where people in boats needed to see. And if that purpose can be covered by buoys and floating objects, why aren't all lighthouses extinguished? There's a reason they don't want to extinguish this one. And nowhere "needs" a lighthouse for tourists. No one "needs" to photograph things and climb up things. I don't "need" lighthouses.

"Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships." -Charles Simic"Lighthouses are more useful than churches." -Benjamin Franklin

And if that purpose can be covered by buoys and floating objects, why aren't all lighthouses extinguished?

There are many harbors with very narrow approaches and longer narrow channels more hazardous than this inlet that have only buoys and other markers but do not have lighthouses. A few such harbors and channels have lights with red sectors denoting the danger area or have range lights that align with the safe passage. Such is the case at Port Everglades with a Vega state of the art multiple sectored single range light showing red on one side white in the middle and green on the other side. The light was designed using motion picture projector technology.http://www.vega.co.nz/default.aspx?Page=28# (check out the video on this site)

One other thing about this Hillsboro Inlet light. In 1884 a Coast and Geodetic Survey team spent several months investigating the coast line to find a suitable location for this lighthouse to be constructed. The physical location of this light was chosen because there was found to be here a ridge of calcium carbonate and cemented sand that would support the weight of the lighthouse. At the time the area was only sparsely populated. Fish, sharks and sea turtles were noted to be plentiful offshore.

There are four classifications of lights; Primary Seacoast lights, Secondary Seacoast lights, Large Navigation Buoys (replaced lightships) and Inshore Lights (river, harbor and other). Hillsboro is a Primary Seacoast light.

The Coast Guard's Montgomery said his agency has no deadline to determine whether the light should shine fully, shine in part, or be extinguished. "We'll take the comments and we'll weigh them and try and come up with the best decision," he said.

It's an option.

"Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships." -Charles Simic"Lighthouses are more useful than churches." -Benjamin Franklin

That is a routine response statement that I have seen many times before concerning lights, fog signals and other navigational aids. Any final decision to terminate an aid such as this will be made by or approved by the C. G. Navcen (Navigation Center) in Arlington, VA.